Leptopelis parbocagii Poynton and Broadley, 1987

Class: Amphibia > Order: Anura > Family: Arthroleptidae > Subfamily: Leptopelinae > Genus: Leptopelis > Species: Leptopelis parbocagii

Leptopelis parbocagii Poynton and Broadley, 1987, Ann. Natal Mus., 28: 171. Holotype: MRAC 101088, by original designation. Type locality: "Mabwe, eastern shore of Lake Upemba, Zaïre (alt. 585 m)".

English Names

Lake Upemba Forest Treefrog (Frank and Ramus, 1995, Compl. Guide Scient. Common Names Amph. Rept. World: 69).

Cryptic Tree Frog (Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 206; Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 207).

Distribution

Savannas of southwestern Tanzania and Mozambique, Malawi, northern Zambia, northeastern Angola (see comment), and southern Dem. Rep. Congo (see comment).

Geographic Occurrence

Natural Resident: Angola, Congo, Democratic Republic of the, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia

Comment

See Poynton and Broadley, 1987, Ann. Natal Mus., 28: 171-174, for discussion of the large number of misidentifications under which this species has previously been reported. These authors also noted that another species may exist under this name from Malawi. Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 292, and Channing, 2001, Amph. Cent. S. Afr.: 206-207, provided accounts. Schiøtz and Van Daele, 2003, Alytes, 20: 146-147, provided comments on natural history and taxonomy. Channing and Howell, 2006, Amph. E. Afr.: 207-208, provided an account for East Africa. Mercurio, 2011, Amph. Malawi: 103-104, provided an account for Malawi and noted an undescribed species in the southern part of the country similar to this species. Schiøtz, 1999, Treefrogs Afr.: 292, expressed deep reservations about both the delimitation of this species and its putative range and the difficulty of identifying specimens in hand from Leptopelis bocagii, although he did not dispute the likelihood of Leptopelis bocagii being a complex of cryptic species, so it would seem that workers should be cautious about the range as stated above as well as the identification of specimens referred to this species. Baptista, Conradie, Vaz Pinto, and Branch, 2019, In Huntley, Russo, Lages, and Ferrand (eds.), Biodiversity in Angola: 255, suggested that this species probably extends into Angola near northwestern Zambia. Channing and Rödel, 2019, Field Guide Frogs & Other Amph. Afr.: 228–229, provided a brief account, photograph, and range map.

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